List of references to Back to the Future
This page is for references to the Back to the Future trilogy in movies and television. For a list of movies and television shows that were referenced in the Back to the Future trilogy, see Homage. Movies Knocked Up *Ben Stone played by Seth Rogan, who impregnates Katherine Heigl's character Alison Scott, sits at dinner and begins to discuss Back to the Future with his friend, including references to the DeLorean time machine and the flux capacitor. His fiance's friend then uses similar references to shut him up. The Santa Clause 3 *A sequence in this movie is very similar to Back to the Future Part II's but also harkens It's A Wonderful Life. When Jack Frost tricks Scott into wishing he was never Santa Claus by holding on to his snowglobe, they both travel back in time 12 years, to the point where Scott killed the last Santa and put on his suit. Jack Frost then becomes the one that distracts the Santa and takes his suit instead, vanishing. Suddenly, Scott is teleported back to the present but as his old self in a suit and tie, talking to a business associate. His ex-wife no longer talks to him, his son disowns him, and the man that married his wife is now divorced. Scott then finds that the North Pole has been transformed by Jack Frost (now Santa Claus) into a theme park, marketing Christmas for everyone's money (similar to Biff's machinations). After Scott tricks Jack Frost into holding the snowglobe and playing a recording of "I wish I never was Santa Claus", they both return to 12 years prior again. This time, Scott holds back Jack preventing him from stealing the suit, which Scott's younger self finds and wears. After younger Scott takes off in Santa's sleigh, both future Scott and Jack disappear back to the present. When Scott returns as Santa, everything is back to normal. Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj *During the Hastings Cup Trivia Challenge, one of the answers to a question is "The Flux Capacitor" The Pagemaster *When Richard enters the library and meets Christopher Lloyd's character, their interaction is an homage to Lloyd's scene in Back to the Future when Marty meets Doc from the 50's. Doc uses a strange machine on his head to guess what Marty has come to him for, guessing again and again incorrectly and not letting him speak. In The Pagemaster, when Richard meets Lloyd's character the librarian he also interrupts him and tries to guess what kind of book Richard has come for, also incorrectly and not letting him get a word in. Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh *At the parade, Crazy Steve pulls up to Drake and Josh's float in a DeLorean DMC-12 and then, the camera makes a close-up examination on the front of the DeLorean similar to the one seen in Back to the Future. When Steve gets back into the car, he immediatley steps into the car and drives away. When the car drives away quickly, the license plate falls of and spins around before falling down flat on the roadway. A Christmas Carol *Near the beginning of this 2009 time-travel film directed by Robert Zemeckis, two boys are seen holding onto the back of a carriage as they skate on ice-covered streets through town waving at people, and Scrooge himself does the same near the end of the film, in the same way as Marty when he was late for school in Back to the Future. Also, the Ghost of Christmas Past reveals the name and dates on Scrooge's tombstone by sweeping away the snow one line at a time, in the same dramatic way as Marty sweeps the weeds away from George's tombstone in Back to the Future Part II. Television 3rd Rock from the Sun * In the episode "The House That Dick Built", Harry is seen reading the Tales From Space comic. American Dad! *One episode is called, "A DeLorean Story-An" which is ALL about DeLoreans. The Colbert Report * On The Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert is said to "believe Back to the Future is a documentary". Chuck *In the episode "Chuck Versus the Gravitron", One of the characters mentions to his friend at Thanksgiving dinner that Chuck Bartowski would come walking right through the front door, and at that moment it happened. Wondering what else might come through the door, he wished for a "flying DeLorean". *Two episodes later, the title of the episode is "Chuck Versus the Delorean". *In the episode "Chuck Versus the Ring", Jeffster get on stage at Ellie's wedding and before playing Mr. Robato Jeff tells one of the band members to "watch me(him) for the changes" Just like Marty did before playing "Johnny B. Goode" in Bttf. *Morgan also buys a delorean from a car seller who entered the Buy more to repair it. episode " Danny Phantom *In the cartoon Danny Phantom episode "Double Cross My Heart," a scene in a bookstore shows a book by George McFly. If Danny's voice sounds similar to that of Marty McFly from the animated series, it's because David Kaufman has done both roles. Desperate Housewives *An episode of DH showed Felicity Huffman's character's oldest son reading the Tales From Space comic on their couch. Drawn Together *In the episode "The One Wherein There Is a Big Twist", when the producer fires up his helicopter, it makes the "time circuits on" sound. *In the episode "Captain Girl", Wooldoor Sockbat takes off in a time traveling car called the Wooldelorean. Right after the car disappears leaving fire trails, another Sockbat clad in Western gear runs up behind where the car was, then fades out of existence. When Wooldoor arrives at his destination, the car is covered in ice, just as it was after making its first time travel trip in the first movie. He also runs over a male and female Sockbat, implying that their deaths erased the first Sockbat. *In the episode "A Tale of Two Cows", Toot Braunstein attends a dance called the Enchantment Under the Seafood dance, a reference to the Enchantment Under the Sea dance in the first film. *In the episode "The Drawn Together Clip Show", clips from past episodes are featured which are displayed with fake airdates which represent some historical or cultural event. One clip is stamped with the date November 5, 1955, the date of Marty's first time travel trip. Doctor who *In the episode "The Shakespeare Code" whilst trying to explain to Martha how the whole world could end in 1599, if they don't stop the Carrionites. The Doctor tells Martha how the situation is "like in Back To The Future." Fairly OddParents *In one Fairly OddParents episode, after Timmy Turner time travels to the 1980's, the DeLorean time machine is seen. In the same episode, it is revealed that the worst day of Denzel Crocker's life, when he loses his godparents, happened March 15, 1972, one year before Biff shot George McFly in Part II. *In the episode "Moooving Day", Timmy gets on a Segway, he turns it on and it displays stuff on a screen. The last thing it shows before he moves is Flux Capacitor with a graph under it. *In the episode "Land Before Timmy," the gang is stuck in prehistoric times and the fairies' wands are out of power. Wanda says that the wands need "1.21 wish-o-watts (jigowatts) of power. *In the episode "Dread and Breakfast," Timmy, Cosmo, Wanda and Poof come into Timmy's room in the DeLorean with the flaming tire tracks and everything. But the portal was never used in any of the films. Family Guy *In one episode, Peter Griffin builds a time machine out of a DeLorean and intends to travel to the past. He crashes into a wall right after starting the car and gets out. When people run out of the building in flames, Peter says, "Everyone in 1955 was on fire! I never knew that." *In another episode, Peter Griffin remembers his cousin Rufus, who starred in a series of blaxploitation films including "Black to the Future" (said to be "from the people who brought you Caddyblack, Blackdraft, and Black Kramer vs. Kramer"). *In one episode, Brian draws a sketch on a blackboard that parallel's Doc drawing the timeline with 1985A skewing downward. *Earlier on in the above mentioned episode, Brian sings "Never gonna give you up" by Rick Astley at the prom, just like Marty did with "Johnny.B.Goode" in BTTF1. And while he is singing, a boy picks up the phone to let his cousin hear, just like the injured Band member did, also in BTTF1. *In the episode "Mind Over Murder", Stewie builds a time machine. When someone finds his drawings they recognize the time machine by noting "this is where the flux capacitor goes". *In yet another Family Guy episode, Stewie imagines Doc Brown at the end of the first film telling Marty and Jennifer "something's gotta be done about your kids." However, Doc goes further, telling them their daughter marries a black man. This news does little to offend Marty, although Doc's racist attitude alienates Marty and Jennifer. *In the episode "Road to Germany," when Brian and Stewie travel back in time to the start of World War II, the familiar light pulse and fire trails are seen, although they have no car. Later there is a parody of the skateboard chase from the first movie, including use of Alan Silvestri's score, but with Nazis instead of Biff and his gang. The Nazis also crash into manure. *In the episode "Business Guy," While Peter and Louis watch the tape of what Louis's Dad made, Mr. Pewterschmidt says "I was unable to have the train push the DeLorean to 88 miles per hour and I am stuck in 1885." (BTTF part 3) *In the parody for The Empire Strikes Back, titled "Something, Something, Something Dark Side", Leia says to Luke, "I don't know what it is, but when I kiss you it's like kissing my brother", a line from Back to the Future when Lorraine kisses Marty. Leia and Luke are in fact brother and sister. This line was read as part of a Easter Egg preview of SSSDS in the DVD Commentary for "Blue Harvest". *Also in "Something, Something, Something Dark Side", the ending is completely spinning off of the ending to Back to the Future Part II, when Marty retrieves the letter from Doc, who was in 1885. South Park Friday Night Lights *In one episode, the characters are watching Back to the Future on a television. Heroes '' makes another appearance.]] *In the episode "Genesis", Hiro exclaims that he has broken the "time/space continuum" *In the episode "Six Months Ago", Hiro, while in the past in Texas, attempts to call Ando Masahashi back in Japan. However, Ando is not there and instead he speaks with his past self on the phone. When he realizes this, he hangs up to prevent a paradox and exclaims Doc's catchphrase, "Great Scott!" *In the episode "Better Halves", when D.L. and Micah are looking at comic books at the kitchen table, one of them is Tales From Space. This is the same comic as the one held by Sherman Peabody, the farmer's son in Back to the Future, who mistakes the DeLorean for a spaceship when Marty first arrives in 1955. *In the episode "Hiros", Future Hiro again references the space-time continuum. *In the episode "Homecoming", a student at Union Wells High School reads Tales From Space. *In the episode "Godsend", Nathan meets Hiro in Isaac's apartment. During their conversation, Nathan says "Look I can't believe I'm about to say this... you, you... teleported here, back from the future?" *In the episode "Parasite", Hiro uses a computer in Linderman's archives to find the Kensei sword. The computer indicates the sword's catalog number is CRM-114. In Back to the Future, the amplifier in Doc's garage is a CRM-114 amplifier. *In the episode "Four Months Later", after the village of Otsu is burned, Hiro tells Takezo Kensei that himself, Ando and the world as he knows it may no longer exist in the future due to his actions. He exclaims, "Great-o Scott!" *On Heroes 360: **In one of Hiro's blog entries, Hiro wishes he could have his own personal Dr. Emmett Brown for guidance. **After riding in a limo, Hiro lists "a De Lorean going at 88 miles per hour" as one of the things he still needs to ride. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show *In an episode of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show when the family travels back in time to the old west, when Wayne Szalinski is asked his name by the town's inhabitants, he says it's "John Wayne". When his wife gives him a look of disbelief, he says that if Marty could be Clint Eastwood in Back to the Future Part III, why could he not be John Wayne. Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman *In Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, a flux capacitor is mentioned by H.G. Wells when repairing his time machine. Malcolm in the Middle *In an episode of 'Malcolm in the Middle', Hal cashes in his life insurance policy to spend at Vegas and tells Lois he got a bonus from work for an idea to outsource flux capacitors, saving the boss a lot of money. Monster Garage *In an episode, Jesse and his crew attempt to build a hovercraft topped with the frame of a DeLorean. The vehicle was not a success and thus it was crushed by an Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV) at the end of the episode, not too dissimilar from the destruction of the time machine at the end of Back to the Future Part III. In truth, the night before the wrecking, the parts were traded out for scrap ones. Mythbusters *In Episode 105 (Viral Hour) of the seventh season, Adam mentions a hoverboard as a future test. *Adam apologizes for the crudity of his models as he has not had time to make them to scale or to paint them. Phineas and Ferb *In the episode "It's About Time!" Candace asks, "You mean to tell me, you built a time machine that has to be plugged in?!" which references completely to "Are you telling me you built a time machine.. out of a DeLorean?" *The episode "Journey to the Bottom of Buford" focuses on the kids retrieving Buford's pet goldfish, named Biff. The fish's name and Buford's possibly refer to Biff and Buford. Pokémon *One episode of Pokémon was titled "Xatu the Future"; a play on Back to the Future and the Pokémon Xatu. *In the episode "Psychic Showdown", the same sound effect that is used for the Delorean entering one time period from another (three bursts of energy) can be heard. The exact same episode also used the Star Wars sound effect for a lightsaber emitting the light blade. Red vs. Blue *The 6th episode of the machinima production Red vs. Blue is titled "1.21 Giga-whats". Saturday Night Live Michael J. Fox was the host for the episode of March 16, 1991, and the subject of a skit http://snltranscripts.jt.org/90/90omono.phtml based on the recently completed trilogy. The premise: Fox is giving the opening monologue, and the jokes are terrible. Doc Brown (played by Kevin Nealon) rushes in and shouts "Michael! Michael! Don't do it!" Doc is accompanied by Michael "from 90 minutes in the future!" (played by Dana Carvey), and they warn Fox that the show will be terrible. The three of them leave the stage and (with the help of an animated DeLorean) arrive at NBC Studios a week earlier, to warn Michael (played by David Spade) not to do the show. All three Michaels, and Doc, change their minds after producer Lorne Michaels brings out a gigantic bag of money, and fly back to March 16 in the DeLorean. The monologue ends with Fox, Carvey and Spade saying "We've got a great show! Black Crowes are here, so stick around, we'll be right back! The Simpsons *In the episode E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt), Homer is worrying about a duel the next morning whilst looking at a tombstone with his own name on it. *In the episode That 90's Show, the scene where "Marvin Cobain" calls his cousin Kurt to tell him about the new sound he's "been looking for" is a parody of the scene where "Marvin Berry" makes a similar call to his cousin Chuck. Smallville *In the Smallville episode, Reckoning, Clark re-lives one day twice. When he explains this to his friend Chloe, she says "Hold on, McFly" before asking him to give her the full details of the experience. Stargate Atlantis *In the Stargate Atlantis episode "Before I Sleep", Maj. Sheppard brings up the DeLorean in a discussion about time travel, to which Dr. McKay responds, "Do not get me started on that movie!" Later, when they find out about a time-travelling puddle jumper, Sheppard calls its added component the "flux capacitor." Stargate SG-1 *In the Stargate SG-1 episode "200", when Carter reels off a string of technobabble to explain why the gate isn't working, Martin Lloyd mishears "capacitors" as "flux capacitor." Stargate Universe *In season 1 episode 7, Eli Wallace talks about his top 5 movies and mentions Back To The Future. Star Trek: The Next Generation *The term "flux capacitor" was used in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation as being part of an anti-gravity machine. Star Trek: Voyager *In the episode "Prototype", B'Elanna states "I'm going to try to adjust the flux capacitance." Supernatural *In the episode "Back to the future II" When Dean Winchester got back to the year 1978, he told Castiel to send him back in time, the angel answers that thats too hard even for an angel, and Dean said "So what, you're like a DeLorean with no plutonium ?" Spin City *Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd reunite in an episode entitled "Back to the Future Part IV: Judgement Day", which aired February 23, 1999. **In the episode, Lloyd plays Mike's old political mentor who claimed to be the son of God. This episode had several references to time, and the film trilogy for which both of them are remembered; for instance, when they greet at the start of the show Fox remarks "It's just like stepping back in time." Lloyd then tells Fox: "The past is prologue, Michael. Men like us have got to keep looking pause to the future". The King of Queens *In the episode entitled "Nocturnal Omission," Kevin Jame's character, Douglas, finds out from his wife that his friend Deacon's wife is planning to move back to Jersey and reunite with Deacon after two years of separation. Deacon had been rather depressed over the separation, but when he goes to tell Deacon the good news to lift his spirits, he finds Deacon very happy that he recently met a stewardess from London who wanted to come over that night. Douglas decided not to tell him about his wife's impending return, and goes back home, where his wife confronts him when she finds out that he didn't tell Deacon the news. In the argument, Douglas states that they have no right to go back in time and change destiny and "if we learned anything from Back to the Future, it is that!" The Office *In the Season 2 episode "Valentine's Day," Michael Scott makes a video presentation for a corporate meeting. At the end of the video, a logo flashes up that reads "Great Scott Productions" and a voice says "Great Scott. True Jackson V.P. *In the Season 1 episode "ReTRUEnion," Ryan is trying to prove a computer technician (who uses gibberish so people will think he is real) is a fraud and when he says he is the technician says "If I didn't know about computers would I know how to rewire a flux capacitor?" Ryan Then says "That's from Back to the Future!" Glenn Martin, DDS *In the episode "Amish Anguish", when the Martins are leaving the Amish town, Glenn says "Jackie let's take this thing up to 88mph. We're going back to the future!" where then you see the RV leaving a trail of fire and the license plate spinning, imitating the Delorean Time Machine's first travel. Video games *''The Simpsons'' character Professor Frink can be heard to exclaim "I broke my flux capacitor!" in the video game Simpsons Road Rage. *The flux capacitor was an electrical slot tech in the turn-based space empire game Stars! The function however, is to increase beam weapon damage by 20%, nothing like in Back to the Future, although the image of it maintains a glowing Y-shape. *Similarly, a piece of ship equipment in the online space empire game Star Sonata is called the Flux Capacitor. *In Oni, the yield of an explosive device contained within a self-destruct system is noted as "1.21 Gigawatts"- the same value required by the flux capacitor in order to work. *Similarly, in a cutscene in Conflict: Freespace a prototype energy shield is being tested in a laboratory, and one scientist notes that the power delivered to it is 1.21GW. He states the digits separately so it is less immediately identifiable with the phrase spoken in the films. *In Fallout 2, one of the slaves during a slaver mission was reported to be yelling "Run for it Marty". http://planetfallout.gamespy.com/wiki/Fallout_2_References#Back_To_The_Future. * In MegaMan Legends At the beginning of the game after MegaMan defeats the boss, it activates again and corners him to the edge of the roof MegaMan then jumps off of the roof only to come back up on the Flutter Ala Marty in Back to the Future Part II * In Guitar Hero World Tour for the Xbox 360, there is an achievement called "1.21 Jigowatts?!?!", the same value required by the flux capacitor in order to work. Anime *In the anime series Sonic X the character Chuck Thorndyke bears an uncanny resemblance to Doc. *In the anime series Magical☆Shopping Arcade Abenobashi the character Masayoshi Asahina "Grandpa Masa" becomes Dr. Emmett "Doc" in a skit in the 12th episode ("The Hollywood Parady World"). Coincidentally, Takeshi Aono, the voice actor for Grandpa Masa, also voiced Doc in the Japanese-dubbed versions of the Back to the Future films. Music *In the introduction to Michael Jackson's 1991 video for "Black or White", a young kid (Macauley Culkin) plays air guitar to loud music in his room, ending by sliding on his knees to a sustained high note (like the ending to Marty's dance performance) when his father tells him to stop because the music is too loud (the Battle of the Bands judge's complaint). Imitating Marty using Doc's amplifier, the kid then pushes two huge speakers into the living room, followed by closeups of plugging the guitar into the speakers, and turning the volume knob from "loud" to "louder" and then to "are you NUTS!?!" He strikes a loud power chord on the guitar, which sends his seated father flying up and through the roof. *Viktor Vaughn, in the song "A Dead Mouse" from the album Vaudeville Villain, says "I'm outta here soon as I fix the flux capacitor." *A play on the term flux capacitor was used by the electronic musician A_Scissors when naming his debut album Flux Decapitator, which was released on Polyvibe Records. The first track references the Back to the Future films as it is named "There's a Delorean Flying Over the Winn Dixie". *The term "flux capacitor" was used in Busted's single Year 3000, in conjunction with the lyrics "he built a time machine, like one in a film I'd seen, yeah". *Electronic artist Rob Astor remixed an instrumental by musician Harry Grillo titled 1.21 Jigawatts. *The Mc Chris song "Wiid," on Dungeon master of ceremonies, features a 1.21 jigowatt reference. *Contemporary Christian group, Relient K, has a song called "Hello McFly". The song addresses wishing how one could go back in time "like Michael J. Fox", but that Jesus Christ's sacrifice wipes the sins away. *A version of O'Neal McKnight's 2008 music video "Check Your Coat" features Christopher Lloyd reprising his role of Emmett Brown. Doc's mission is to bring him "back to the future" to the year 2088. Doc joins in the party providing turntables. *Kanye West, in his song "Good Morning", says "...scared of the future While I hop in the Delorean". Also at the end of the music video for the song, Dropout Bear is seen driving a flying Delorean with flashing lights around it. Internet *For April Fools' Day 2008, Google's Gmail advertised a hoax application called Gmail Custom Time, which allows a user to send an email hours or days before it is actually sent. To explain how it would resolve issues of causality, Gmail would utilize an e-flux capacitor. It also explained that had it allowed the user to send Gmail before Gmail existed, it would be like hanging out with one's parents before they were born. http://mail.google.com/mail/help/customtime/index.html *The Wolfram|Alpha computational knowledge engine defines a "delorean" as a unit of power equal to 1.21 gigawatts, and uses 88 miles per hour as a benchmark for comparing speeds. See: "speed cheetah". Other *The Flux Capacitor is the name given to the finishing move of pro-wrestler Frankie Kazarian. *''Flux Capacitor'' is a fully improvised comedy show at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York City that explores the same window of time from many different angles. http://www.ucbtheatre.com/schedule/showdetails.php?showid=1024 *The FireWire icon looks like the Flux Capacitor. *In Star Wars fiction, one part of a hyperdrive is called a flux capacitor connector, an obvious reference to another science-fiction franchise. Category:BTTF References